


Every Man Naomi Met...

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:55:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25310107
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: Blair tells Jim something about his childhood
Relationships: Jim Ellison & Blair Sandburg
Kudos: 10





	Every Man Naomi Met...

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'musician'

Every Man Naomi Met...

by Bluewolf

"It seemed like every man Naomi met would fall in love with her," Blair said. "She never stayed with any of them for very long, though." He sounded surprisingly philosophical about it.

"And they didn't mind that she had a child?" Jim asked

"One or two weren't exactly happy about it," Blair admitted, "but they accepted that they had to put up with me if they wanted Naomi. Most, though, realized that keeping me happy kept Naomi happy." He gave a wry smile. "The first time her new boy friend was unhappy about her brat, it didn't take me long to work out that the best thing for me to do was stay in the background as much as possible, be very polite if I had to speak to him, make as little noise as possible - "

"Little noise? Chief, you never stop talking!"

"Making up for the times I had to keep quiet when I was a kid?"

Jim shook his head.

"And once I learned to read, that gave me an excuse to sit quietly in the background, even with the ones who liked me; I didn't want to assume their patience was inexhaustible. There was only once that nothing I did was enough to keep from irritating the guy, and any time he saw me and Naomi wasn't there he slapped me around a bit. I didn't tell Naomi... until the fourth or fifth time he hit me he misjudged and left a bruise. When she asked me how I'd managed to bruise myself... well, I told her. We were out of there as soon as she'd thrown our things into her bag - "

"How old were you?"

"Not quite four. She made me promise to tell her if any of her friends ever hit me like that again. But he was the only one who ever did.

"Mostly, though, they didn't mind, and a lot did seem to like me. And while my main interest even as a very young child was always anthropology, by the time I was five I realized that if I showed an interest in their hobbies it would help them to accept me. So I learned a few skills - at a very simple level, obviously - and developed an interest in sports, mostly basketball. A lot of what I learned I never really bothered with again after we moved on, but one or two... I was thirteen when she moved in with a musician; we were there for about seven months. He played several instruments, and taught me how to play them, but the guitar was the only one I really liked playing, the only one I carried on playing after we moved on.

"Jack was the last one who had to put up with me; by then I was thirteen and didn't go with her any time she moved in with someone. I stayed in youth hostels, and once the YMCA, for the next three years when she picked up a new 'partner', and then I went to Rainier...

"That gave Naomi the freedom to wander the world. She always did have itchy feet but while I quite enjoyed travelling around when I was a child, she could see that I didn't have the same urge to explore beyond the horizon that she did. It says a lot for her that she stayed put as much as she did until I settled at Rainier." Blair was silent for a moment, before adding, "After I went to Rainier, she didn't seem to have the same... I don't know, need? to move in with someone. She seems happy to travel alone most of the time, sometimes going to retreats... Maybe part of that moving in for a few weeks with someone who fell in love with her was to give me more of a settled life than she was happy with. How can I know? If I ask, she'll just say something like 'It seemed a good idea at the time'."

Jim nodded, though he was thinking, _I doubt Naomi has ever really cared about anyone but herself - though it says something that she did try not to neglect Blair while he was still young._


End file.
